Aaron Bunsen Lerner (September 21, 1920 – February 3, 2007), also known in scientific articles as Aaron B. Lerner, was an American physician, researcher and professor.

Life and career

Born in 1920 in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, Lerner received his medical degree and a PhD in chemistry from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

in 1945. After teaching at the universities of Michigan and Oregon, he joined the

Yale University School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

as an associate professor of medicine in 1955. The following year he became director of the

dermatology Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medica ...

section within the Department of Internal Medicine, and when the Department of Dermatology was established in 1971 he was appointed its first chair. When Professor Lerner retired in 1991, he was named a Professor Emeritus of Dermatology. He was in 1973 elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences (Medical physiology and metabolism). Dr. Lerner is perhaps best known for leading the team of researchers who isolated and named, in 1958, the hormone melatonin. He was an expert in the metabolic basis of inherited diseases, particularly

vitiligo Vitiligo is a disorder that causes the skin to lose its color. Specific causes are unknown but studies suggest a link to immune system changes. Signs and symptoms The only sign of vitiligo is the presence of pale patchy areas of depigmen ...

for which he, in the 1980s, developed a skin transplantation therapy. Lerner also isolated the compound

melanocyte-stimulating hormone The melanocyte-stimulating hormones, known collectively as MSH, also known as melanotropins or intermedins, are a family of peptide hormones and neuropeptides consisting of α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH), β-melanocyte-stimulating ...

(MSH). Dr. Lerner was married to Marguerite Rush Lerner, M.D., an author of children's books and a book about admission to medical school (''Medical School: The Interview and the Applicant''). Their sons Ethan A. Lerner, M.D., Ph.D. and Michael R. Lerner, M.D., Ph.D. are both dermatologists and successful entrepreneurs. Ethan Lerner is associate professor of dermatology at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and the Massachusetts General Hospital. Michael Lerner is in practice in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

.Health.usnews.com About Michael Lerner
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References

External links

Aaron Lerner Papers (MS 1896).
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lerner, Aaron B American dermatologists 1920 births 2007 deaths University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni Yale School of Medicine faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American medical researchers University of Minnesota Medical School alumni Members of the National Academy of Medicine